Diede de Groot

Started: She began playing tennis at age seven in Lunetten, Netherlands, after discovering the sport through a rehabilitation centre. She took up the sport seriously at age 13 and turned professional at age 17. (diededegroot.nl, 08 Sep 2019; Athlete, 20 Jul 2016) Reason: She wanted to find a sport that did not require her to wear a prosthetic. "I can walk for about 10 minutes and then my hip starts to hurt and I get very tired. Because I was not used to a wheelchair, I started behind [other wheelchair tennis players]. But as I was young I quickly picked it up in a playful way." (tennis.nl, 01 Jul 2019) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (lumosa.eu, 30 Nov 2022) Milestones: In 2019 she became the first female player to hold the women's wheelchair tennis singles titles at all four Grand Slam events at the same time. (rolandgarros.com, 08 Jun 2019) In 2018 she became the first female wheelchair tennis player to win both the singles and doubles titles in the same year at the Wimbledon Open in London, England. (skysports.com, 16 Jul 2018) Awards: In 2024 she won the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award. (laureus.com, 22 Apr 2024) In 2018 and 2019 she received the Women's Wheelchair World Champion Award from the International Tennis Federation [ITF]. (tennisworldusa.org, 19 Dec 2019) Additional Info: OTHER ACTIVITIES In 2020 she became an ambassador for the Royal Dutch Lawn Tennis Association [KNLTB]. "It is very important that people can see that wheelchair tennis players can play with everyone. That's what makes the sport so much fun. I would like to work with the KNLTB to make even more people enthusiastic about wheelchair tennis." (diededegroot.nl, 23 Dec 2019; LinkedIn profile, 01 Oct 2019; tennis.nl, 01 Jul 2019)